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Some people may know a little of me in these forums as I am very much an ideas guy when it comes to modelling, I have for a while now caught the bug when it comes to prop modelling, but for me it's really a case of a hobby that hopefully I can make a little money on.

I am a graphic designer but I also did a lot of modelling when I did a product design course.

So I started making my own Boba Fett Helmet, but, as I began researching it I began to realise that there was a market for Jango too. Anyhoo, I began making my own helmet based around a cycle helmet.

It was only recently that I discovered TDH and it was then I realised that people can be really pedantic about detail here, which was kind of demoralising for an amateur modeller trying to give to the community, so I had to make the decision that I would build my helmets for people who either aren't that bothered about replicating the wrong angles and brow furrows or just want a standard helmet that they can easily customise.

Problem is I am a little bit of a perfectionist and I am still working out the kinks for close up detail (I have to have the cheeks without any dinks in them so they are perfect for casting).

Anyhoo, this is my master which I am showing to you as the community of Mando variants type people as you guys seem really friendly and share more of my attitude when it comes to costuming. I intend to do them in fiberglass which will make them light and easy to work with, I can probably stick some aluminium in the gelcoat if needed. The ear pieces were bolted on a long time before I made the decision to make a generic helmet instead of the Boba one, but a dremel would soon sort that out should anyone wish to convert them.

Once I have the basic cast done, I will be making limited runs of "art" pieces, which will be my own customisations that turn the helmet into a decorative art form and I have a few ideas I want to run with, I'll pop my designs down here once I have the basics done, don't want to run before I walk

nice work man
I also recognise that Halfords grey primer can anywhere - so a UK maker too!? always a good thing.

some little things ... but hey u did say it wasnt for screen accuracy. much nicer than anything I could have done from scratch! drop in on the UK chapter of MMCC, I am sure they'd like to know of a UK generic mando lid maker!

Yup, I'm from the UK and I recognise that I am not good enough (yet) to make screen accurate helmets, but I think I could really do some stuff for people who want their own helmets and custom jobs.

It's a kid's Bike helmet and I filled the holes in the top with miliput, sanded it down then covered with car dent filler (bondo) so it would get smooth. Then it was a lot of sandpapering and wet and dry paper.

Actually the dome is not as smooth as I'd like, I spent today working on the front brow as there were dinks where the dome connected to the faceplate, so I filled those in and did a sanding jobbie on them

The last front image made it look a little narrow, so hopefully you will see it flares out nicely.

Moving onto the rear which I have done some work on, this is pre work, as you can see you can spot a few things wrong, namely one of the helmet holes is still visible and the keyslot hole is skewed and will need straightening, I've also levelled the wobbly brow part at the back where it cracked and I had to glue it back down again.

Finally, on the side there is a crack where I slipped with the dremel on the cycle helmet, it left a permanent scratch dink on the one side and I filled it in and tried to straighten everything up. Also a good excuse for a side shot too

Got in the RTV silicone to make the mold with and bought some clear gelcoat for the fiberglass, some clear class balls to help support the easy to snap bits and as an impulse some brass powder as well, as I noticed that there are a lot of people who like that Copper/brass/gold look and would be a nice base for a cold cast.

Thing I hate the most is the darn measuring, I like my cooking to be experimental, but with dangerous chemicals you can't be so cavalier!

All I need to do is make sure that it's the best it can be and I'll be molding and jacketing that bad boy.

Having a barn over the last hole in the helmet, it doesn't want to go smooth! Grrr, I've spent some time straightening where the T meets the visor.

What I'll probably end up doing is making a cast, correcting for perfection then remold, I can then use the mold for cold casting testers as I have no clue how much metal I am supposed to add to the clear gelcoat :S

Bought 1000 coffee cup stirrers for mixing RTV silicone and resin, then suddenly realised that I could use the straight edge of one of the stirrers to get a cleaner finish to the things like the keyslots and the brow rims.

Will go over it all tomorrow to get the best lines I can, I am a gnat's nut away from being ready to Silicone the bad boy.

Oh by the way, i made some true type fonts of mandalorian letters and numbers, let me know if you're interested, you can use it to write your name and make templates and stuff like that!

And on that note, I'm fighting with a couple of dinks in the tusk area but to be quite honest my heart's not in it right now, will probably need something to do tomorrow, so I want to make a start on the molding process.

Sorry, these things happen bro. Remember.....but dont dwell on it. Life keeps moving forward. Use it. With great pain and suffering, comes great knowledge and power. Some of my best work came to me when I was going through a painful time.

So I was just about to start putting the silicone on the master, I had put it in a plastic sandwich serving tray I'd half inched from one of my Mother's parties, cleaned off the model so there were no dust particles and noticed that part of the rear cardboard sections had a part of the top layer come off.

Use your imagination and insert your own expletive driven rant!

So I'm doing a quick repair and will come back with shots of the goop all over the helmet!

You know, I'm not sure if today is going to be my day, RTV seems a bit runny and it's making a nice boba fett shaped hole but because it is runny, it's running off and down the side of the helmet, leaving thin parts, especially where the angle turns, I've just done the third coat, but took my time to let the silicone cure a bit first.

Fourth coat should be the final, I'll leave it to cure for a while before placing it on, so hopefully it will thicken up and I can plaster it on!

I do have some other RTV but it's a different type to the other stuff I used! Not sure whether mixing the two will cause any problems, but I don't think I have a choice, will really need to allow the mixture to thicken as well.